Review 151: People of the Canyons

People of the Canyons: A Novel of North America's Forgotten Past by Kathleen O'Neal Gear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is magic based and mostly concerned with evil, witches and the dead. The leader of the Straight Path nation is known as evil cannibal witch. He used terror, force and witchcraft to rule, but now is old, nearing death. He dispatches his daughter Blue Dove to find a wellpot claimed to hold his enemy Nightshade’s soul, hoping it will free him to travel to the afterlife. At the same time there is a battle with religion, the old and new, though that is more in the background of the story.

Blue Dove searches out Maicoh known to be a powerful witch killer, taker of souls. She finds a few elder healers, Tocho and Crane instead. Then an albino joins who claims to be Maicoh. Mixed in with these is a young orphan girl Tsilu, who wants to save her adopted grandfather Tocho as he is being marched back to the Flowing Waters Town, the center of the Straight Path nation.

Most of the book leads up to the events when the party arrives in Flowing Waters Town. This is also where I think the book is the weakest. And the ending leaves things very primed for a follow-up book.

While reading this book some of the characters and history felt familiar. None of the summaries I read mentioned this book being a continuation of others, but one reviewer did mention it is a continuation from the book People of the River, which is book 4 in the series. It probably would help to read that book first, but it is not necessary. If you read it a long time ago like me, then you may want to refresh your memory of the story.

For readers new to the series of books, I’m not sure this is the place to start. But since it is mostly a standalone book you won’t be lost. I think there were some stronger books in the series. I always enjoy these books by the Gears. This book did not disappoint, but not my favorite either.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

This is the latest book in the series at number 26.
Previously I've read (more or less in order) books number 1 through 15.
All rated 4 or 5 stars.